Saving the last dance

East St. Louisans struggle to raise money to bring dance legend home

In East St. Louis, at the now-shuttered Club Monastery,
a dance, aptly called “the Mono” — an abbreviation of its
birthplace’s name — was born in the late 1990s, though one
could argue that the spirit of the Mono in East Boogie predates the young adults who
reportedly made it up. Completing the Mono involves the synchronization of a
number of isolated pops, stomps, and twists of the back, arms, legs, and
pelvis. It’s textbook “Dunham technique,”
invented by Joliet-born modern-dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, who in the
’60s made a home in East St. Louis and spent the next 30-plus years
splitting her time among that city, New York City, and Haiti as a dancer,
teacher, and activist. For several years, Dunham, now 97, has wanted to move
back to East St. Louis from New York. Now, says Charlotte Otley, Dunham’s longtime
executive liaison, the dancer is facing eviction next week from her New
York City apartment. It’s also doubtful that Dunham will be able to
return to her East St. Louis home, Otley says; there’s simply no
money to support her. The living quarters of Dunham’s home here, which
also houses the Katherine Dunham Center for Arts and Humanities, have been
outfitted with wheelchair ramps and lifts for the ailing dancer. However, Otley says, no money exists in the
center’s operating budget to pay Dunham’s basic living
expenses. “We’re in quite a dilemma,” Otley
says. “It’s an odd place to be at 97 and to have a challenge
keeping lights on.” Part of the problem is that nobody thought that
Dunham would live so long, and cash dried up. Caregivers hired to look
after her and prepare Caribbean meals don’t need cars in New York
City, Otley explains; in East St. Louis, however, they will.“We don’t even have a corner store for her
to buy bread in her [East St Louis] neighborhood,” she says. In addition, says KDCAH board chairwoman Dr. Lena
Weathers, “The best living conditions are here, in her own house. We
want her to come back so we can wait on her.” Funds for programming are readily available, Otley
says, noting that KDCAH received a $1 million grant to renovate the center,
located on North 10th Street in East St. Louis. However, grant money cannot
be used to pay for the cooks and around-the-clock nurses Dunham needs. Otley sees investment in Dunham’s legacy as an
economic-development opportunity. Once also a playground for artists
Josephine Baker, Miles Davis, and Ike and Tina Turner, East St. Louis
boasts a cultural history that can provide an impetus for economic growth
in East St. Louis just as it has in Harlem, Otley says. Besides, she says, the city owes it to Dunham, who she
calls the city’s “crown jewel.” About 10 years ago, thieves broke into the museum for
the first time in its 30-year history. In what she believes is a show of
respect to Dunham, every year since, pieces of the booty — a mask
here, a small statue there — Otley says, have reappeared.Otley, who will travel to New York this week to attempt
to work out a deal with Dunham’s landlord, estimates that $300,000
will buy Dunham 18 months to 2 years in East St. Louis. Some progress is being made, Otley says.
Dunham’s foundation has gone from a negative to a zero balance, and a
local attorney has offered to match up to $25,000 in donations. Others,
including the local Boy Scout council and volunteer landscapers, have
helped out where they could. “We have a tendency to worship our icons after
they’re gone,” Otley says. “Everyone wants to be
associated with them — then why are they dying on the vine, poor and
devastated?” She points specifically to Josephine Baker and, more
recently, Rosa Parks, the “mother of the civil-rights
movement,” both of whom died nearly destitute: “Why is it a lesson we have to learn
again?”